


Birthday Wishes and Good Girlfriends

by Frying_Eggz



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Jason is a dumb boi, Nico likes Beanies, Percy is a sad boi, Piper thinks they're doing the deed, annabeth is a good girlfriend, does this count as hurt/comfort?, help i don't know how to tag, the stolls pop up for such a short amount of time I cant put them as characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frying_Eggz/pseuds/Frying_Eggz
Summary: It was all his fault.They all died because of him. For him.It should have been him. He could have saved them.Do people really expect to be happy on his birthday when it was the anniversary of war in which so many people died?Maybe he can be.Thanks Annabeth.orPercy is being big sad on his birthday and Annabeth is here to fix that.
Relationships: (Background) Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Kudos: 18





	Birthday Wishes and Good Girlfriends

**Author's Note:**

> I made blue cookies.

Annabeth looked around the dining pavilion. It looked like a bomb had gone off, leaving blue and silver streamers everywhere in no particular design or pattern. Nico was chasing around a group of Iris and Hecate kids in a sleeveless rainbow shirt and hot pink beanie, making Annabeth chuckle. Piper was on a ladder, attempting to fix the messy party decorations as Jason flew around trying to keep them from falling off, the blue flannel tied around his waist flapping around. The Big House wasn't looking any better either. 

"What in the world happened here?" Annabeth asked no one particular.

"I went to go to the bathroom for 5 minutes, and I guess that was all the time the Stolls needed to throw streamers and glitter everywhere..." Piper explained.

"I tried to get them to stop," Jason offered, but Nico had entered the conversation after getting his beanie turned back to it's original color, and he was having none of it.

"You were laughing at them," he said in a monotone voice. "You even offered to help."

Nico had grown in the past 3 years. His skin had taken back its tan, and he grew out more. Instead of wearing all black, he often opted for a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt under his signature aviator jacket, and when he wasn't wearing that, he was often found in dark, but still slightly colorful shirts. He practiced sword fighting often, and it showed. But one of the most significant changes about him was his personality. He was happier now, and much more open, thanks to Reyna, his best friend, and Will, his boyfriend. He was also strangely protective of his beanie collection.

Jason chose to scratch his neck and look at his feet in response to the glare he got from Annabeth, which earned him a laugh from Piper. 

"Well, it's getting late and we don't have much more time to fix the decorations. So Piper, go ahead and put the ladder away," the girl with hot pink slivers of hair nodded at this, "And Jason, try to get the glitter off of your back." Jason's eyes widened as he fruitlessly tried to turn to look at the silver glitter sticking to his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. 

Nico rolled his eyes at this action. "I'll go ahead and gather the campers," he stated, turning around and walking off, leaving no room for any objections. 

Annabeth yelled a quick thanks and dashed off toward the Poseidon cabin to retrieve her boyfriend.

She reached the salty smelling cabin, and quietly opened the door. "Hey Seaweed Brain..." she trailed off as she realized he wasn't there. Her eyes darted around looking for him, and her eyes landed on the slightly open bathroom door.

She walked over, and as she got closer, she could hear quick and heavy uneven breathing. She became worried and quickly opened the door, flooding the cabin with light. 

"Percy are you okay?" Her eyes located him, seeing him jump slightly as he turned to look at her with wide eyes and a startled expression. He had been sitting on the floor with his head between his knees, trying not to cry. He had hoped no one would find him, and that he could leave his cabin with a smile that had no one questioning his mental stability.

"Percy..?" Annabeth's eyes became softer than ever as she watched the love of her life trying not to break down as he got up. 

"Hey Wise Girl, I uh..." he tried to find an excuse but failed miserably, which only made him panic even more. "I-I-" his voice cracked.

Annabeth cautiously moved toward him, trying to make eye contact. He met her eyes and looked away with a pained expression. He took a step back, his heels hitting the bathtub. 

"Oh Percy," she whispered as she went to hug him. She wrapped her arms around Percy's torso, his body stiffening at the touch. After a few seconds his muscles relaxed, and his arms snaked around her waist as he brought his head down to her shoulder. 

The two stood there, Annabeth rubbing his back and he sobbed into her shoulder. Annabeth let tears run down her face as she closed her eyes. She hated seeing Percy like this. She hated seeing him in pain. The couple stood there like that for what seemed like an hour, but what was in reality, only ten minutes.

At some point, the body-shaking sobs slowed to a steady cry, which eventually turned into sniffles as Percy let go of her body. Annabeth grabbed his forearms and looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?" Her voice was delicate, as were her touches, as though the man in front of her would break at any second. 

"I-" his voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm just thinking about all of them. I'm thinking about Luke, Ethan, Michael, Lee, Zoë, Bianca, Beckendorf," he stopped, unable to go on, letting the tears flow down his face again. He took a deep breath and continued talking, his voice still very fragile. "I let them all down, they- they died because of me and-" Annabeth stopped him.

"What are you talking about? You didn't let them down. They died a heroic death. They were happy to fight for the lives of others, and they were happy to sacrifice themselves for the safety of everyone else."

"But I lead them into battle, Annabeth! I lead them to their deaths. I could've saved them," this time, Annabeth let him talk, despite how much she wanted to do otherwise. "I gave Luke the knife. I let Bianca sacrifice herself for us. It should have been me! And if we had moved a little quicker, I could have gotten Beckendorf off the ship!" Angry, hot tears were falling down his cheeks as his hands went up to his hair in exasperation. "I was the one who commanded Lee and Micheal and everyone else to go to those positions. If I had been just a bit smarter, " he was practically pulling his hair out now, "I could have moved them to safer spots. If I had been faster I could have saved Ethan, " though they both knew that in reality, he couldn't have. He had been too far away, and he had fallen far to fast to do anything about it. "And Zoë! If I had been a bit more observing I would have noticed she was in no condition to fight! I could have helped her! I had ambrosia and nectar!" At this point, Percy was too emotional to speak, and Annabeth hugged him again to provide comfort, which only made him cry more.

"Percy, Bianca and Zoë were going to die, it was in the prophecy. You couldn't do anything about it. Zoë knew she was going to die, and so did Bianca when she got into Talos. Beckendorf knew he was going to die, but he was okay with that. He was sacrificing himself to save many others, and he wanted to do it. Luke knew that to stop Kronos, he was going to have to sacrifice himself. And he wanted to do it. He wanted to do it because he thought it was the only way to redeem himself. And Ethan was too far away to do anything about it. And everyone who fought in both wars knew that there was a very high risk in doing so." Percy had become dehydrated from crying so much at this point; he had run out of tears. "Percy, they were happy to die fighting for what they loved and for what was right. They each knew the risks, and they each took the chance. I bet if we go to the underworld and talk to their spirits, they would say exactly what I am saying right now." Annabeth's voice had been soft, but the next sentence she spoke was firm, as she tried to get the point across and into his head. "It. Wasn't. Your. Fault." 

Percy just collapsed into her arms, no longer able to hold his own weight, bringing them both down. Annabeth managed to catch them before they hit the tiled floor. She just hugged Percy as he cried it out. 

"I just feel so selfish being happy when this is the anniversary of so many peoples' deaths." Percy whispered.

"Today we also celebrate winning a war and preventing so many other innocent people from dying. It's okay to be happy. You should be happy. Besides, it's your birthday! And to be honest, you've been through so much and have always been so selfless, that it is perfectly fine to be selfish for once. You deserve it. You deserve to be happy." Percy was quiet, simply sniffing in response.

/break/

Annabeth had left to get Percy 30 minutes ago, and she still had not come back. Piper decided to go check on them, so here she was, knocking on the door to Cabin 3, scared of what she might find inside.

There was a muffled "Come in!" so Piper opened the door, and took a deep breath of the salty air. Percy and Annabeth were cuddling on his bunk bed. The had gotten up to get ready and go to the party but after Perch had gotten dressed they had somehow ended up snuggling on his bed. 

Piper let out a relieved sigh, glad that she didn't have to report anything. Not that she would've, she's not that kind of friend...

"Everyone is wondering where you guys are! What's taking so long?" 

"Percy wanted a bit of alone time before we went out into the crowd, " Annabeth lied smoothly. Although, it wasn't a total lie. 

Piper let out a "Mmkay, " before saying "Well, are you coming or not? 21 years is a big birthday! You can't miss is it!"

Percy let out a muted "Yeah, we're coming, " though he didn't actually get up. Piper gave a skeptical look. "Uh-huh." she let out as she licked her chapped lips. "Because it totally looks like you are, " she said, digging her chapstick out of her back pocket. 

"Come on Seaweed Brain, " Annabeth told him as she got up. " Let's go." Percy only let out a groan in response. 

"Well, I'll see you there!" Piper chirped as she turned around to walk out, putting her chapstick back into the pocket of her jeans. She let the door swing shut behind her, and suddenly all you could hear in the Poseidon cabin was the trickle of water from the fountain and quiet breathing as Annabeth played with Percy's hair. It took a minute for him to get up, but he eventually did, and they were off to the Party, leaving an empty cabin behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't my best work lmao.
> 
> idk if I tolerate it or just straight up hate it.
> 
> i mean it's still up so i guess it's fine


End file.
